I just let my dog out to do her business, as I do every night... and she bolted from the door along the deck and into the garden. At about the same time, I smelt the "skunk" smell, but it wasn't too unpleasant and I didn't think anything of it.
So, I let her back in and after a few minutes realised (or rather my wife made me realise!!) that our dog had been sprayed. The house stinks! I've put her in the garage and done some research, and there seem to be several remedies, some including tomato juice, others hydrogen peroxide. All of them say get the bathing done immediately, and wash two or three times.
Well.... it's nearly midnight, a bit chilly, and I really, really, don't want to be shampooing the dog for an hour in the garden.... plus, I don't have any of these wonder remedies in stock!
So, my question is..... has this happened to anyone here? How long did the stink last? Is it really bad to not do anything immediately? Any tips???
I have smelt skunks before, and it didn't seem anything like as bad as our house smells now.....

I did search the forum and was surprised not to find anything after 2 or 3 pages... I take it this doesn't happen that often?

Oh yes, it stinks to height heaven doesn't it? Our dog got skunked last summer. We went out and bought the hydrogen peroxide as it wasn't too late at night.
Apparently the stuff the skunk squirts out is an oil and that's why it takes forever to get rid of the smell.
We used hydrogen peroxide, tomato juice and baking soda. It helped a bit but the dog and the house had that burnt rubber smell for quite a while

Oh dear.... we're trying to sell the house too! I'll take her for lots of swimming tomorrow and see if that helps. Thanks for the quick reply.

Try tomato juice ! I kid you not. Bathe the animal in it. Lots of it. It works. I'm sure if you Google it you will find verification.

Thanks Simon... It did come up a lot in Google; some said it worked, others didn't. I haven't got any tomato juice either.... some said that the longer you leave it without "treatment" the longer it takes to get rid of the smell.... IGA doesn't open until 9 in the morning. Aargh!

Do you have any tinned tomatoes.you could put them in the blender and use that.

No. I have two tomatoes in the fridge.... they're not going to go far on our dog. She's a big (smelly) girl!

Ah ha! I do have some AutoGlym Car De-Odouriser.... I wonder if that will work.

no bicarb in the house??

Nope.... I think we're not very prepared!

oh well, shave the dog

we bought stuff from the vets when our cat was skunked. worked okish

If you urinate on the dog a few times (or have multiple family members join in) it gets rid of the skunk smell.

Oh, and by the way, it's "Smelled".

Having had no luck with tomato juice, I shaved the dog.

Tomato juice works for some but our experience with a long-haired breed (Samoyed) was somewhat mixed and I don't think he liked being pink afterwards either. We did eventually get some shampoo from the vet's that worked well; sorry can't remember the name of it. It was bloody expensive but worth it. I can tell you from long hard experience that "skunking" tends to occur at the most inconvenient of times (generally after 11:30 pm) and it pays to have a supply of your remedy of choice on hand at all times if you get regular visits from pepe le pew. Good luck.

Ah. Also note that antiseptic sold for horses has a persistent bright colour so you can see it from across a field. If you put some on an injury your dog may have a purple arse for weeks. OK, I suppose, if you also have a pink dog.

hydrogen peroxide, bicarbonate of soda and washing liquid. Lots and lots of times! Worked for us after ours got skunked on our first night in our new house! Was that bad, the kids all woke up 3 floors up from the smell!!